A recent game development contest spawned one of the most realistic texting-and-driving game simulators ever.

In the pantheon of driving video games, SMS Racing isn't even in the building. It's sitting outside wearing a fanny pack and a DSLR slung around its neck—this is not a terribly complex game. The driving dynamics, visual fidelity, and aural impact fall somewhere between Pole Position and San Francisco Rush.

SMS Racing was never meant to be a racing simulation masterpiece—game developer Holden Link built it in two days for a rapid video game development competition known as Ludum Dare. But where most racing games that challenge their players to drive around a set course as fast as possible, SMS Racing challenges the player to do this while sending text messages.

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Drivers receive texts on an in-game phone and are tasked with responding within 10 seconds—to do otherwise, the game's text-to-speech narrator informs us, would be "rude" and invalidates the current lap time. The text conversations you're asked to carry on while keeping a car on the road aren't overly complicated: Most consist of three-letter chat acronyms such as "lol," "smh," and "omg." But even in this distilled form, the effect that texting has on even a rough approximation of driving—on an empty road nonetheless!—is pretty apparent once you approach the first corner. Just the act of looking down at the phone is enough to send the car careening into the welcoming arms of the closest barrier.

Compared to just about every racing game produced in the past decade, SMS Racing is pretty terrible. But it is hands-down the best (and only!) texting-while-driving simulator I've ever played. So give it a shot. Experience pure frustration as you furiously tap out "yolo" while simultaneously navigating a chicane. And post your lap times (mine is 2:24.6). Just don't text behind the wheel in real life. SMS Racing gives you an idea of what a truly terrible idea it is.